


Mother knows best

by Rysion



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Karura loves her son, Kind of like a mother protecting her young, Sand sibling bonding, The desert is a harsh mistress, Yashamaru is a good uncle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-05 01:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14605968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rysion/pseuds/Rysion
Summary: There is nothing that you can sneak past your mom. Eating sweets before dinner, breaking that vase, getting your new pants muddy and ripped. Mothers have seen it all and make it better with a kiss and a grin.Why should a demon being sealed inside you be any different?---------OrCall it mother's intution, but when Karura learns she is pregnant a third time she feels the intense need to hide her child miles below ground where nothing could ever harm him. Since that option is out of the window, she's going to make damn sure her baby has a fighting chance.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy early Mother's day! For all the badass mama bears out there who take no shit when it comes to their cubs. In memory of every sacrifice they have, are, and will make.To them and for them, a small tribute.

She knows.... 

...from his first heartbeat, Karura knows her second son will be amazing, will surpass his siblings, will make her proud, will  _break_ her. Her heart, her family, her world is threatened by her precious baby boy and she smiles and loves him all the more. If a mother cannot love her child, who will? 

She  _knows_... 

...from the whispers on the street. It's there written in the grim lines of her husband's face. The signs, the clues, the  _truth_  is there screaming at anyone who is observant enough to pay attention. The desert is harsh. The desert doesn't forgive. The village is dying. Rasa does what he can...raises standards, cuts taxes, works himself to the bone for his village and his family.  She sees, and she vows to protect her loved ones no matter the cost. If not her, then who? 

 _She knows..._  

... from the salt and grit that comes from the worst sandstorm Suna has seen in ages. Karura has given her husband to the village. She's given her brother to its enemies. She's given her first two children to its future, its pettiness, its grudges, its seething unrelenting greed that always wants  _more_...she has but two things left to give and still the desert asks for more. She refuses. She fights it with everything she can. She does not give her last child to the demon, he is stolen by it. By the demands of those who don't, won't,  _will never_  understand or give the same. Her last child is stolen by the demon, so she gives him to the desert. He will be the raging sandstorm, the harsh glare of the sun, the merciless poison. He will also be the oasis, the cacti bloom, the first shower of the wet season. He will be all the cruelties of the desert, and all of the beauty too. She may have lost this battle, but the war will be hers. If she doesn't fight for her child, then who? 

 _She_ knows... 

...from the first time Yashamaru came home crying with a skinned and bloody knee. She watches with rapt attention and awe in her eyes as their mother fixes it with paste, a press, a kiss, and a  _spark_. Its small, barely there, and if she had blinked she would've missed it. But that small spark of magic, of life, of chakra, but really of love. Her mother's love for them, for their home, for their place in life, for the  _desert_. For the desert is harsh, and unforgiving to those who are not worthy. But for Suna, it is life, it is home, and it has always welcomed, sheltered,  _protected_  them. She knows from that first spark that she wants to be desert's love and so she learns all she can from her mother of the healing arts. Never a medic, never a shinobi, never trained to shape that weird tingly stuff called chakra into techniques. But a healer, who knows the right plant for every ache and complaint. Who knows how to find water even in the dry season, to read the dunes and rocks to never be lost, to listen to the desert breathe and breathe with it. The desert called to her and she answered with mind, body, heart,  _soul._  She called back to the desert and it answers; the oasis against the storm of the seal. If the desert can take, can it not also give? 

She  **KNOWS**... 

…from the burning in her throat to the ache in her bones. So, she prepares. She all but forbids her foolish husband from the nursery, from the house, from their lives. She does not live in his mansion any longer, but with her brother, her children with her. She does not love what this man has become. A figurehead, a puppet, a doll on a string played to the whims and tunes of those who are not blood, are not  _family_ and _desert_  . So Rasa is all but banned and banished and in his place she lets the desert flow. She splurges and buys rich paints, blues of the clear desert skies, the reds, the oranges, the deep purples of the setting sun. She paints the desert alive in her unborn's room, his own oasis. She stocks it with books on anything that can make a child happy, with soft toys of every shape, size, and form, her favorites are the bats and the scorpions. She fills the rest of the house with all of the deserts wild breath taking beauty. And it is peaceful, it is calm, a gentle caress in the sea of sand that awaits outside the doors.

She knows and so she works. Every market day, every trip, every walk, every activity she can she works with a single-minded determination to forge the bonds her children will need. Kankuro picks books for his baby brother. Temari gets to help paint. Yashamaru finds the crib. Cooking dinner is a family affair. She joins the children on training trips with their uncle. She makes sure even Kankuro feels the baby bump every morning and every night. All three of them have patches in the quilt she weaves for his room. 

She knows and so she fights because she never stopped, and she's subtle. All it takes is a word here, a smile there, and just the right nudge for the seeds to be sown, to be grown before anyone can stop them, to uproot them. It shows in how Kankuro is already boasting about teaching his baby brother cool ninja tricks. Shows in Temari's squeals of joy whenever the baby kicks her hand. Shows in Yashamaru's kind, soft,  _unbreakable_  smile when she leans on him while patting her swollen belly. All three know her love for them, for this unborn child, for their  _family_. Rasa can kiss the ass of the council all he wants. Karura loves her village, but she is part of the desert first, makes sure her family can feel the desert's heart just as easily as she can. So, she is content in this way because she will be ready. If she's not, then who will lose? 

She  ** _KNOWS_**... 

...from every ragged breath. With each contraction, always intense, never regular,  _far too SOON_. Her son is coming. Burdened before he even draws breath to shoulder the guilt, the responsibility, the  _blood_  of cowards. Her son is coming, and so too is the end of her life. She knows with every scream, every tear, every gasp as the medics work, as her children sit alone at home, as Yashamaru squeezes her hand, as her husband remains  ** _absent_**  that her life will end here. She has danced with the desert wind, she has done all she can...she has no regrets. Karura locks her eyes with her brother and they beg, plead, demand, promise, shout,  _cries_  all that she is and feels. In that impossibly long moment he stares...and stares...and stares, till Karura starts to crack, to break, to shatter because not after all she's done can it fall apart now...then he  _sees_  and he  _knows_. Not all that she knew, so long ago from that first heartbeat, that first spark, but a glimpse. So, he sees, he knows, and he nods. So, she can breathe, can smile, can love, can  _give._  She's given all of them her love, her devotion, her guidance. She has given everything else to her twice cursed village. What seems to be forever ago she gave this last child to the desert...and to him she gives purpose, meaning, protection, life...her life. The only thing she has left to give she gives to this son who she called the desert to claim. And with her last breath, she gives him a name, whispered to Yashamaru to cherish and protect...Gaara of the Desert...for the desert can only ever truly love itself. 

After all, a mother always knows. 


	2. And so it begins...

Gaara of the Desert's first memory is being rocked gently with the roar of a sandstorm and soft humming filling his ears. He doesn't understand it, but he feels safe so he lets the humming soothe him. Later, he'll wake up in a crib in a room painted like a desert oasis. He doesn't understand or recognize any of it at the time, it is only later reflection that brings the memory to clarity. It is later still that he learns and recognizes that it is not that he has a great memory, but rather that his mind was reinforced and strengthened because of his "special condition".

  
There is no great moment or leap of clarity, it's all gradual. He will see the blond man and think "Yashamaru" long before he learns his uncle's name. He'll crawl among the rooftop cacti and instinctively move to avoid the spines, crawl to where they cover and hide him from the shadows (ANBU) who are always watching. He will follow along as Temari reads to him a bedtime story (he's not going to sleep, he's restless without knowing what restless is) and knows the ending even though he's sure thats a new book she picked. He'll sleep under the desert sun (and never burn or tan) with shifting sand and humming playing in his ears.

  
Perhaps most dramatically, the only times he will truly wail and cry is when he feels a tenseness in the air, like a bubble about to pop (he likes popping bubbles, a rare treat where water is scarce). The first time, Yashamaru was about to leave for the market. 10 minutes into soothing Gaara and a fierce sandstorm had kicked up, one the sensors had never even felt coming. The second time, Temari and Kankuro were playing on the roof with him. They had brought him for a nap thinking he was tired when they became stuck in the house due to the storm. From then on, the family paid attention to when he felt off. As he got older he stopped crying, but frustratingly all the words he knows he can't say so he settles for gestures and simple words and phrases.

  
Sometime after he turns 2 is when he starts noticing. He knows more than he should. He watches other toddlers from the safety of rooftops, or from his uncle's arms. He doesn't babble or stutter, he knows what he wants to say and he can mostly say it. Noises, and lights, and new places don't scare or excite him. He can still enjoy festival lights, and treats, but he doesn't have the same...oomph that other kids put into it. About the only place they have him beat is the walking. He knows how to do it, its the actual doing part. His body just doesn't have the strength or energy for it. Even crawling can exhaust him if he's not careful.

  
He knows he sometimes worries his family. He's not sure how, but he's learned to trust these strange feelings, thoughts, and impluses. So while most of it bores him, he does his best to entertain them when they come seeking his company. He will smirk at Temari as she reads to him, or walks him around the house, or tries to cook (he refuses to try anything until she practices more). He doesn't gurgle or babble, but he'll grunt when Kankuro tries to show his "awesome" moves, or show him this new exciting toy, or tells him about some adventure he got into. With Yashamaru it's easier. Yashamaru is just as happy to sit with Gaara without interacting as Gaara is. His uncle will push at times and Gaara sometimes indulges him, but for the most part its tranquil.

  
The talking helps. Once he start communicating better, the worry lessens. The talking also improves the time together. Now he can say he's tired or make suggestions. As time goes on, he's less willing to indulge other activities, but encourages those that interest him or have a deeper purpose. Kankuro actually knows a bit about gardening and tending to cacti (Gaara knows more, and doesn't know why), so afternoons begin to be spent tending and building the rooftop garden and slowly spreads to the backyard. If Kankuro calms down and stops yelling in excitement to spend time with him in the garden, Gaara is not complaining. Temari does practice cooking and eventually starts producing edible products (not good, not yet), so Gaara begins offering small feedback on taste and she slowly improves. They pass a troupe of dancers one day in the market and Gaara mentions Temari is just as a graceful to her jealous look, and soon she begins dancing as well. Gaara appreciates the artform, he dozes as she practices in the shade.

  
With Yashamaru, of all things, he begins discussing books. If simple sentence reviews could be considered a discussion. Still Gaara wants to be read (and can read, how?) more challenging things, and slowly Yashamaru acquieses. The books turn to discussions of their topics and those topics turn to others, and Gaara finds conversing with his uncle is the best way to improve his communication skills. Its a slow process, but steady and Gaara is content with that.  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
It is shortly before his 4th birthday that he finds the source of the sand and humming. He is dozing in the shade of the cacti, and suddenly he can feel a familiar warmth around him and humming in his ear. His gut supplies him with "mom" before he fully takes in where he is. Gone is the rooftop and all of Suna. Before him lies a vast desert, dotted with canyons, steppes, dunes, and cacti fields. It is then that recognition hits Gaara as this feeling is the same as what he first remembers, and what he feels every time as he falls asleep.

  
"So we finally meet, my dear one" "Karura" his mind supplies, "mom" his heart echos.

  
Gaara turns to face her, and she is just as beautiful as the pictures on the wall of his uncle's house. Gaara forgets to breathe for a moment, before he's hugging her back. Then, the humming resumes, and he realizes its the same song he sometimes hears Temari sing under her breath when she rocks him to sleep, that Kankuro absently sings while tending the garden with him, that Yashamaru whistles while cooking. Its a song of home, of wild free desert wind, of their family.  
And then over the breeze, and sand, and song, Gaara hears the howls.

  
Behind them, caged behind bars of poisonous cacti and a monstrous sandstorm wall is an immense tanuki.

  
Gaara knows he looks confused, as its all he can feel at the moment, it is then he gently shaken by the chuckles of his mother.

  
"I suppose I should explain, as best I can at least."

  
Gaara turns to her and nods, keeping one eye on the imprisoned creature that howls and slams against its cage only to be hurled back.

  
"Don't mind him, he's just upset because of the full moon tonight. I'm so glad I get to finally speak with you dear one."

  
"But....what?"

  
"Well, as I'm sure you've guessed, I am your mother, you are Gaara of the desert, this is your mind, and that is the weapon your father hoped to use, the One-Tailed Shukaku."

  
Gaara blinked as some comments made by Rasa and his siblings started to click, and turned to fully face his mother. He reached out hesitatingly to touch her while murmering, "I still don't understand. Yashamaru said you died."

  
Karura, smiling gently, sets Gaara down and takes him by the hand, leading him away from the raging tanuki.  
"I did. Die that is. I knew from the start I wouldn't survive, your seal is too experimental. So, I did what I could for you, my darling baby boy. I made sure you had a home and a family to be what I could not, and the rest...well the rest was up to the desert. Did you know our blood is of the original desert nomads who lived here, way back before the warring clans and the start of the ninja villages?"

  
With a start, Gaara realized he did, information he never remembered reading or hearing about seemed like he had known forever. His mother winks at him and continued.

  
"Your father too, distantly, it's why the kazekage bloodline is so strong. But our blood, that is you, me, your siblings, and uncle, our is much purer to the original nomads. My mother, your grandmother, kept to the ancient rituals and traditions, and I followed. the desert sings in our blood. So when you were born, I gave everything I had left to protect you and give you a chance. That's where your seal's flaws are a good thing. When I gave my life and love for you, the seal pulled in all of my chakra. I don't know what happened from there, I just woke up in here with Shukaku a few hours later. I can only guess that the healing nature of my chakra was used to heal your seal into something more complete."

  
"So you're alive inside my seal, all this time?"

  
Karura led them inside a cave where a colony of bats were roosting and settled them against the wall with a sigh, pulling Gaara close.

  
"Unfortunately, no. I'm only the remnants of my chakra. since there is nothing to replenish my chakra, once its gone, I'll fade away."

  
Gaara cried out at this revelation, causing a dust devil to form in the cave scaring away the bat colony. The sudden appearance of the whipping sand scared him further into his mother's arms even as it grew larger and she soothed him.

  
"Shhh, easy dear heart, in here isn't like out there, I can't keep the sand suppressed for you."

"You..but, then when Father..."

  
"Yes, for your safety and protection it's best my husband doesn't know of your ability to wield the sands. And that is where part of my chakra is going, and why one day I will fade. The other part is your seal, where most of my chakra is being used to buffer it. The reason you're so tired physically is two fold. One my chakra is guiding yours into the seal to strengthen and hold it on its own for when mine is gone. It's very draining for someone whose network is still developing but will vastly increase your reserves later. "

  
"Secondly, this imprint of me seems to have accelerated your mental development quite a lot. You passively know everything I know, but it only comes when you're confronted with needing the necessary information, the rest is slowly being integrated in the background. A lot of your energy is going to just processing that knowledge. It means you're going to be delayed in the physical department for quite some time, possibly permanently to compensate."  
"So what does all this mean?"

  
"It means what you're already realizing. You're more of a success than your father could ever dream of, but thats not the life I wanted for you. If you still want to be a ninja then let it be your choice and on your own terms. The fact you're here now means your chakra will soon be strong enough to support the seal without me, and mine is fading. In the time I have left with you I need to teach you all I have learned about what has happened, how to use your unique mix of chakra, and properly introduce you and Shukaku."

  
"Introduce me to the demon?!"

  
Karura giggled at his outburst and ruffled Gaara's hair.

  
"Silly, who do you think has been helping me keep watch over you all this time? Shukaku has been the one warning you about all those sandstorms you can sense. Besides, who do you think helps me rock you to sleep at night?"

  
It was too much for Gaara to comprehend, and so he fainted to the sound of his mother's giggles and wind on sand in the background.  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
Since that meeting, Gaara met his mother every night as he slept who kept her promise to explain as much as she could about what she's learned of the seal, how to use the old traditions and rituals, and to formally introduce him to Shukaku.

  
Gaara and his mother had differing views of that encounter. Karura swears Shukaku actually likes him since the One-Tail only threatened to eat him twice and actively tried to crush him once. Gaara thinks his mom has spent too long around crazy demons and has no idea what she talking about. Regardless, Gaara has been working on getting the demon to cooperate with him.

  
The benefits to his mother's foresight came far more quickly than he thought. Just after his 4th birthday Rasa ordered Gaara and his seal to be inspected by Elder Chiyo for one final evaluation. His mother's interference ensured that Chiyo could find no trace of Gaara's seal or Shukaku's chakra. Gaara was labeled and failure, and Shukaku thought lost to be reformed at a later time. As such, Rasa quickly forgot about his youngest child and turned his attention to tracking when Shukaku would reform and other weapons in the interim.

  
With the Kazekage's attention diverted, Gaara was now free to choose a profession different from the ninja corps. A decision he might have taken had misfortune not fallen shortly after he turned 6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if it wasn't entirely clear in the chapter:  
> Karura sacrificed herself when she birthed Gaara, and because she's basically a desert shaman her spirit or "chakra" fused into Gaara's seal since it was faulty anyway in an attempt to fix it. This led to the seal changing to adapt specifically to Gaara and Shukaku with Karura acting as a sort of bridge/glue. The seal will grow and change as Gaara does and bonds more with Shukaku. If Minato can do it, so can I. Fight me.
> 
> Some of the side affects and benefits is that Gaara is mentally shielded from Shukaku while still having access to his chakra due to the seal acting like a filter. This strains the chakra/seal which in turns strains the network of its host. Karura's chakra, as a fully matured adult, shoulders that part of the burden until Gaara's network matures enough to handle the strain. She's able to keep it up for his early formative years, but it is wearing her down, I'd imagine she's hovering around 50-60% at his 4th birthday when he meets her.
> 
> The other side effect is Gaara mentally matures at an accelerated rate. He's not a genius, he just reaches higher order thinking far sooner than he should. He can analyze, predict, etc, but he still needs practice sorting through his thoughts and putting it together. He's just mentally a few years ahead of where his peers would be. This mental strain is why he is so tired while he's younger as he is devoting a lot of energy to complex thinking before he's really ready for it. The "future memories" are just that. He knows what Karura knows/knew but as she never really trained as a ninja its limited in that practical aspect, and unless he practices what she teaches him of the desert nomad side he'll never really be competent with that aspect either.  
> Finally, this seal is a finer mesh between his and Shukaku's chakras. This will be demonstrated later in the story after they've bonded more. 
> 
> Also yes, newborn Gaara was eventually held by Shukaku in his mindscape starting around 6 months old. Karura was very persistent they get acquainted. Also Karura knows of the old stories of how Shukaku's first jinchuriki made peace with the demon, so from day one she was just in his face "Wanna hold the baby? Look how adorable he is."


End file.
